Friendships are voluntary relationships and like romances, they involve a certain degree of “chemistry” between two people. Each person needs to determine whom they want to befriend and be befriended by—which friendships they want to pursue and those they want to pass up on.

When friends move away from each other, it’s hard to maintain the same relationship they had when they were living close together. Even without that barrier, relationships change over time as two people grow in different directions.